Guide to Writing a Motivational Book

Have you ever faced insurmountable challenges? Were you able to overcome them? Are you passionate about helping others succeed in life? Do you believe your story is worth being shared? If you’ve answered yes to all these questions, it’s time to transfer your experiences onto paper. Don’t know where to start? Here are a few guidelines for developing your motivational book.

Write your thoughts and ideas in a journal.

This journal will serve as the place to share your inspirational thoughts. Furthermore, record your setbacks, strategies for overcoming those obstacles and the positive results you received from applying them to your life. Communicate your points in a simple and clear manner. Your writing should focus on the crisis you experienced and how you rose above your circumstances victoriously. Provide relevant details only. Dwelling on the negative and your biographical information are not necessary. Remember your readers must connect with you through your story. In other words, they can place themselves in your shoes because they are either going through such challenges or they are in the process of overcoming the obstacles you raised in your narrative.
Select a market for your motivational book. Who can benefit from your story? Is it for persons who desire to increase their artistic ability, start their own nonprofit organization or business, develop healthier relationships in their home and work environment?Compile a list of accomplishments that readers will experience after reading your book.

For instance, if your book deals with starting a nonprofit, readers should be involved in activities such as developing the mission of the organization, interviewing possible candidates for their board of directors and incorporating their nonprofit with the respective authorities of their state.

Structure your book.

Now that you have written your content, it’s time to place your information in a systematic fashion for readers to consume and digest. For instance, how many parts should the book contain and how many chapters would constitute each part. Structure your book in such a way that readers will encounter the easy concepts at the beginning and the more complex and advanced topics from the middle up to the end of the book. Provide an introduction that stimulates the interest of your readers. The introduction should explain the purpose and intent of your text. Conclude your work with a summary of the ideas you previously expressed. Furthermore, provide a few recommendations to your readers on where they can acquire additional knowledge in the areas discussed in your book.

Gather testimonies from professionals and people who have implemented the strategies discussed in your book and achieved success.

You can present this information as Q&A interviews, quotes or one-paragraph stories.

Hire a professional editor to edit your manuscript.

If you are going along the traditional publishing path it is important to have your work edited before sending it to a literary agent. This is also the case with self publishing. Although the content of your work may be great, sending your manuscript to a literary agent without editing may disqualify you from being considered for a publishing contract. From a self publishing perspective, your work will be viewed as amateur.

Haliyma Barrow is a freelance writer based in New York. She started her journalism career in 2004 as a staff writer for IUP’s student newspaper, and now she regularly contributes writing to EduBook.